Two requests were registered with the administrative court of Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) in order to obtain compensation for women victims of Androcur, a progestin which greatly increases the risk of meningiomas, according to the receipt consulted this Friday by the 'AFP.
Filed on March 7, these requests “aim to recognize the fault of the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM), therefore of the State, in this major public health scandal” and obtain “compensation respectively of 748,777 euros and 361,515 euros,” Charles Joseph-Oudin, lawyer for the applicant, told AFP, confirming information from the daily Le Monde.
Three more requests expected
“Three other requests will be filed by the end of next week” and others will follow, added the lawyer, specifying that his firm had in its hands 450 files concerning women who consumed Androcur and other progestins, Lutéran and Lutényl.
“Fifty individual legal assessments have already been ordered” and “the twenty completed assessments all retain the causal link between these meningiomas and the taking of medications,” says the lawyer.
“A lack of information” according to expert opinions
These expert opinions point to "above all, a lack of information" on the known risks of the drug for which "the primary responsibility is that of the State (ANSM) in conjunction with the responsibility of the laboratories", he underlines.
Contacted by AFP, the ANSM does not comment on the current procedure.
Me Joseph-Oudin and the Amavea association, which brings together 900 patients suffering from meningiomas after taking progestins, are seeking to discuss with the Ministry of Health so that "a compensation system is put in place as was done for Mediator and Dépakine”, two health scandals leading to compensation.
Decades of overprescription
Theoretically indicated against excessive hair growth, but prescribed for decades by many doctors well beyond these indications - for example against endometriosis - the link of the drug Androcur (cyproterone acetate) with meningiomas has been clearly established in 2018.
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Meningiomas are tumors of the membranes that surround the brain. These tumors are sometimes referred to as “benign” because they are not likely to degenerate into fatal cancers, but they can cause serious neurological disabilities.
Androcur prescriptions fell by almost 90% between January 2018 and December 2023, according to the ANSM. At the end of November 2023, fewer than 10,000 patients were treated with Androcur compared to around 90,000 at the end of 2017.